ESL Pro League Group D highlights

Liquid 19-17 Lynn Vision

Lynn Vision are going to be disappointed after letting Anubis, their go-to map pick at Pro League, slip through their fingers. They were 9-6 up at the break, and even sported a 15-13 lead at one point in time, but were still unable to close things out even after a trip to overtime.

You could attribute Liquid's comeback to a tactical timeout held just before round 30, the final round of regulation, began. Whatever was said, be it by Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele or someone else in Liquid, it helped get the win over the line and prevent the European roster from being close to elimination.

Ancient is up next. Can Lynn Vision recover and force a three-map series? Let's find out!

After over three weeks of action, spread across four eight-team groups, it's officially the last day of the group stage at ESL Pro League Season 18!

There remains just one playoff spot left up for grabs, with Liquid, Lynn Vision, and Eternal Fire all fighting for it throughout the day, the former two taking to the server first for a rematch at 12:30 .

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
24/09/2023	Lynn Vision 12:30 Liquid	Match

Up at 16:00 will be a seeding match between G2 and Complexity. Both teams have already secured their place in the playoffs, though the winner will progress straight to the quarter-finals.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
24/09/2023	Complexity 16:00 G2	Match

Rounding out the day — and the tournament's group stage as a whole — is a 19:30 bout between Eternal Fire and the winner of the aforementioned series between Liquid and Lynn Vision. The Turks successfully took down Cloud9 to stay alive in Malta, and now just need one more win to make it to the playoffs.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
24/09/2023	Eternal Fire 19:55 Liquid	Match

Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli and Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker both sung Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın's praises in a post-match interview on the ESL Pro League couch, delving into the 18-year-old's progression from a member of Eternal Fire's academy team to a rock-solid player in his Big Event debut.

"[Wicadia] is playing really well. He's also improving day by day and he believes in himself," woxic said in a post-match interview on stream. "He has become a really good player in a really short time. When he started to play three months ago, he wasn't like this, but he's improving really quickly. I think he's going to be one of the best players soon," the Turkish AWPer added.

"I hope so, I don't know what's happening tomorrow [laughs]. Maybe tomorrow we'll lose and something will change," joked MAJ3R when asked about the stability and longevity of this current Eternal Fire roster, before also going on to give Wicadia praise. "I'm really proud of Wicadia because he is playing like in practice. I think, for his age, he is really something special."

Cloud9 6-16 Eternal Fire

Eternal Fire didn't break a sweat on their map pick, utterly trouncing their opponents to go 1-0 up in the elimination series. It's a complete turnaround from the 11-16 scoreline when the two teams first met in the Group D opener.

On the Cloud9 side, it was only Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov who put up a fight. The Russian AWPer ended things with 21 kills, but it really was a one-man army. Take a look at Cloud9's stats below:

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	21 - 14	+7	99.1	1.37
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	8 - 14	-6	68.4	0.75
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	9 - 14	-5	50.1	0.70
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	10 - 15	-5	59.6	0.65
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	6 - 17	-11	35.7	0.35

Overpass is up next. Can Cloud9 tie things up or will Eternal Fire waltz to a quick 2-0?

"It's nice that we won, because against Mareks it's always a very important match for us. It's always a super motivating game for us," Virtus.pro's coach said about the special meaning of matches against his former teammate Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis.

"Mareks knows how we play. We are like good guys, with structure, strats, and Mareks a bad guy, push, finding information, screaming, always focused, extra motivated, he will fight until the end."

Virtus.pro 16-14 Liquid

Liquid looked like they had Ancient and the series under lock and key when they went up 14-10 on the CT side and had amassed a big bank, but Virtus.pro beat back a crucial close retake on B and went on a six-round streak to turn it around.

Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali put up 10 kills in that streak alone and ended up on top of the charts, with a 7-0 score in opening duels and eight multikills to boot.

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	26 - 12	+14	76.2	1.57
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	20 - 16	+4	79.7	1.13
Petr 'fame' Bolyshevfame	19 - 17	+2	65.4	0.98
Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevFL1T	18 - 17	+1	71.0	0.96
David 'n0rb3r7' Danielyann0rb3r7	8 - 20	-12	59.8	0.73

Liquid 16-12 Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro's map pick goes the other way.

Liquid looked in cruise control off the back of Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis's entries on the T side until VP began to punish the Latvian's swings. Later into the second half Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's team had seized the momentum, but it swung back after Liquid pulled off a full eco round victory.

Many Asian teams came close but ultimately disappointed their fanbase, something Sudhen "⁠Bleh⁠" Wahengbam knows all about.

This time around, though, they were the ones to make the most out of their opponent's mistakes, coming back from 11-15 down to close out the map in double overtime.

"This team, the atmosphere is very good. When we have close games, our mental state is better than other Chinese teams," said an ecstatic Dai "Gum" Yifei, Lynn Vision's coach, after his team displayed a fantastic mentality in their series against 9INE.

9INE 16-10 Lynn Vision

The kings of Vertigo have done just enough to secure their home map. A 9-6 T-half was a decent start for the Poles, who then failed to start their defensive half in equal fashion, and the scores were soon tied up at 10.

The Lynn Vision's T-side ran out of steam after that, and the Poles were able to string together six CT rounds to secure a comfortable 16-10 victory.

The series will be decided on Overpass, as Lynn Vision removed Ancient in the second rotation, something that 9INE will take with open hands.

9INE 10-16 Lynn Vision

Lynn Vision have secured their first map of ESL Pro League S18. A dominant 11-4 Terrorist half gave them a solid platform for victory, one that only improved after their second-half pistol win. Once at 13 rounds, the Chinese side struggled somewhat and allowed 9INE to reach double digits, but Lynn Vision stood strong.

Dongkai "⁠Jee⁠" Ji found seven kills in the last two rounds to help his team secure the victory, and they showed what this means to them with their post-match celebrations, which you can see below.

Next up is Vertigo, where 9INE have made quite a name for themselves. Conversely, Lynn Vision have recorded just one match on the skyscraper map, a 14-16 loss to 5yclone.

The Canadian tactician joined the couch for a post-match interview and was asked about Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm's much-improved form of late.

"I'd say we had a lot of breakthroughs with him as he got a lot of confidence recently, it was a lot of mental stuff rather than his individual form. We started chipping away at him slowly, and he started to feel like he can talk and say the ideas he wants to do, which you need from an AWPer."

The American sniper proved crucial in their win against Cloud9 and topped the board on both Inferno and Mirage.

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	63 - 47	+16	68.3	1.17
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	51 - 45	+6	74.6	1.09
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	56 - 60	-4	82.8	1.09
Robert 'Patsi' IsyanovPatsi	58 - 63	-5	72.0	1.04
Aleks 'Rainwaker' PetrovRainwaker	47 - 51	-4	64.4	0.94

Cloud9 16-14 Liquid

They needed all thirty rounds, but Cloud9 have won their map pick and tied up the series. Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov was once again on the top of the scoreboard and stopped at 25 this time around, making amends for his quiet game in the loss against Complexity.

Mirage will be the decider, a classic battleground where both teams sport a 50% win rate. Cloud9 hasn't played it yet in Malta, while Liquid beat Virtus.pro in overtime in their EPL opener.

Cloud9 10-16 Liquid

Liquid quickly negated Cloud9's pistol round win in the opening exchanges, which allowed them to win out the unfavored T side of Ancient, 8-7. The Russian squad then started the second half with another pistol victory but otherwise failed to find much impact.

Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski and Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou, who joined the caster desk, described Cloud9's T side as "disjointed." Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's clutch made Liquid struggle economically, but the Liquid defense stood strong despite Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov's 30-bomb.

Next up is Inferno, where this Liquid core is yet to post a victory.

Virtus.pro went through many turbulent changes in recent months, which has hampered their preparation ahead of EPL as they look to have finally settled on a five-man lineup.

Despite their win against Eternal Fire, which puts them one win away from the playoffs, Dastan "⁠dastan⁠" Akbayev remained grounded in his post-match comments. "We need a lot of work. You can't fix everything in one month because you need to play a lot of official games."

Virtus.pro 16-10 Eternal Fire

Virtus.pro's 9-3 start on their CT side was enough for them to close out the map comfortably. The Turkish squad found a second wind after winning a force-buy in the second round of their defense and got up to 10, but Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and company didn't let up.

After stealing their opponents' map pick, the game now moves to Virtus.pro's choice of Inferno. Despite being chosen by the Rissian combine, the map is actually Eternal Fire's best in terms of win rate at 75%.

Eternal Fire took down the kings of Vertigo in 9INE yesterday, and they are going back to Old Faithful in their series today as we get under way.

Inferno is VP's pick, with Mirage if needed.

It's a day of lower bracket matches at ESL Pro League, and it should be tight games too.

Virtus.pro and Eternal Fire kick off the day in the top half of the bracket, with Cloud9 and Liquid facing off later on.

Only two playoff spots are left on offer in Group D, and a loss today would put any of these four teams in the perilous position of having to run the gauntlet in the last-chance bracket.

Eternal Fire are the lowest ranked team on paper, but ran Cloud9 close and beat 9INE yesterday; they should provide another stern test for the refreshed Virtus.pro.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
22/09/2023	Eternal Fire 16:00 Virtus.pro	Match
22/09/2023	Cloud9 19:30 Liquid	Match

Eternal Fire 16-11 9INE

Eternal Fire have just upset the odds, taking down 9INE on their best map, Vertigo, to secure a 2-0 series victory.

It was a team effort for the Turkish squad on the second map, but Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş came alive on the CT side to make the A bombsite his own.

9INE will be left scratching their heads as to how they were so toothless on their own map pick, particularly on the T half.

G2 10-16 Virtus.pro

G2 couldn't maintain momentum coming into their Inferno pick despite Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov continuing to perform early on, meaning we'll head to Ancient to decide which team will progress straight to the playoffs.

The IEM Cologne champions started their CT side down 3-8, and although they had a late resurgence toward the end of the half and briefly tied the score at 9-9, they couldn't consistently crack through VP's stellar defenses as the Russian team ran away with victory with their own defensive effort.

Eternal Fire 19-15 9INE

The two teams were very evenly matched in regulation, but the Poles of 9INE lost all composure in overtime, losing one round to a team flash and another after getting a favourable afterplant.

Eternal Fire have Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker to thank for their victory, the AWPer was in sublime form throughout, going 9-2 in opening duels and racking up over 100 ADR.

Kamil "⁠KEi⁠" Pietkun and Kacper "⁠Kylar⁠" Walukiewicz led the resistance for 9INE, but it was not enough.

Vertigo up next, can Eternal Fire upset 9INE on their best map and seal the deal 2-0?

G2 16-6 Virtus.pro

In classic Virtus.pro fashion, a 16-6 game lasted much longer than what you'd expect, but it did end up being a clean win by G2.

The European combine were in control of the map from start to finish, outclassing Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's side with a stalwart CT defense (in a half where VP saved four rounds in a row as T), and wasted little time in closing things out in the second half.

Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage led the server for their side early on in the map, while Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen came alive later to help lead his side to a one-sided victory, ending the map second only to m0NESY with a 1.37 rating. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač remained relatively quiet, posting a 1,13 rating, but the ease with which G2 took the win didn't even require him to pop off.

Will they need him to step up on Inferno, or are G2 just going to cruise through the group?

The second playoff-qualifying match of Group D is about to kick off between G2 and Virtus.pro, with play getting underway on the Russian team's pick of Mirage. Which team will join Complexity in securing an early berth to the bracket stage? Let's find out.

Check out the complete veto below:

1. Virtus.pro removed Nuke
2. G2 removed Overpass
3. Virtus.pro picked Mirage
4. G2 picked Inferno
5. Virtus.pro removed Vertigo
6. G2 removed Anubis
7. Ancient was left over

Cloud9 13-16 Complexity

What a CT-side from Complexity! They struggled with just six rounds on the more favored T-side, but came alive when it mattered most, winning 10 rounds on the defense to clinch victory on their map pick.

Cloud9 just couldn't get anything going on the attack; their defaults fell flat and they had no answer for Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery, who ended things with 29 kills to his name.

Cloud9's pick of Ancient is up next, and they'll need to make sure they don't flop on their choice if they want to guarantee a spot in the playoffs without going to the lower bracket.

The first playoff-qualifying fixture of the day is almost upon us, with Cloud9 and Complexity set to hop in the server in less than an hour's time for their 16:00 fixture.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
21/09/2023	Cloud9 16:00 Complexity	Match

The two teams last played each other at IEM Dallas in May, albeit with different rosters. Cloud9, who won that matchup 2-1, still fielded Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov and Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov, yet to secure the signatures of Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov.

Complexity, meanwhile, still had Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley on their books, as well as using Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek as a stand-in, and were still a couple of months away from adding Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski to their ranks.

Who do you think will prevail in this one? Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince thinks that Complexity are now playing their best Counter-Strike since forming the roster, but is it enough to defeat the Russian powerhouse? We'll find out in 50 minutes.

Read more

Grim: "We've been playing our best CS since we made the team"

Liquid 16-9 Lynn Vision

It's back-to-back losses on Anubis for Lynn Vision. The Chinese side showed tenacity when they took G2 to overtime on the Egypt-inspired map during their Group D opener, but were unable to replicate that form versus Liquid and now trail 0-1 in the lower bracket series.

It's hard to see a world in which Lynn Vision could have given Liquid a proper run for their money when it was just Lizhi "⁠Starry⁠" Ye delivering for the Chinese side. He added 24 kills to his tally so sit at the top of the server, but with Junjie "⁠EmiliaQAQ⁠" Tang acting as the team's second-best performer on just 12 frags, you can see why Liquid had little trouble closing things out.

Ancient is up next.

It's almost time for day two of ESL Pro League Season 18 Group D, with just one hour to go until the action gets back underway, starting with Liquid and Lynn Vision in the lower bracket.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
21/09/2023	Liquid 12:30 Lynn Vision	Match

Starting at 16:00 will be a playoff-qualifying matchup between Cloud9 and Complexity. The Russian-majority side are the highest-ranked team in their group, and will be a tough test for a Complexity side that narrowly moved past 9INE in their opening bout.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
21/09/2023	Cloud9 16:00 Complexity	Match

Rounding out the day will be two fixtures going live at 19:30 . Virtus.pro and G2 will lock horns to determine the second team that will guarantee a playoff berth on Thursday, whilst Eternal Fire and 9INE will fight to avoid a trip down to the Last Chance Stage.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
21/09/2023	Virtus.pro 19:30 G2	Match
21/09/2023	Eternal Fire 19:30 9INE	Match

9INE 16-12 Complexity

9INE have converted their map pick of Vertigo to force an Ancient decider in their series versus Complexity.

The Poles owe a large amount of their thanks to Kamil "⁠KEi⁠" Pietkun, though. The 22-year-old stood tall with 30 kills his name, single-handedly dragging his team over the line after Complexity started to mount a menacing comeback attempt.

Ancient is up next, and neither side looks particularly strong on the map, if I'm frank.

9INE 11-16 Complexity

Complexity have shown exactly why they picked Anubis in the series, putting up a stellar 10-round defensive effort to recover from a 6-9 deficit and go 1-0 up in the series.

It was Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery and Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli who did the brunt of the heavy lifting for their team. The duo ended proceedings with 23 and 25 kills, respectively, to spearhead their team's recovery.

We now move to 9INE's choice of Vertigo, a map they've made home over the year. Can the Poles do good on their pick and force a three-map series in Malta?

Cloud9 16-11 Eternal Fire

Cloud9 has hit the ground running in Malta by securing Eternal Fire's Vertigo pick to kick off their opening series. The Russian squad took six rounds on the trot to begin their defensive effort on the right foot, and withstood a late T side resurgence from Eternal Fire to narrowly hold the lead at the side swap before running away with things in the second half.

The team's trio of Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov, and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy were firing on all cylinders throughout the map, but the former duo came alive particularly in the second half to help their side to victory. sh1ro won three clutches on the map while Ax1Le's trades and entries on the attack allowed his team to give up just four rounds after the side swap en route to a 16-11 finish.

Can Cloud9 close it in two on their own pick of Overpass?

Liquid 19-17 Virtus.pro

Liquid have done enough to force a three-map series versus Virtus.pro, converting their Mirage pick in overtime despite being down 6-9 at the side swap after a lackluster T-side effort.

Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis ended Inferno at the bottom of the scoreboard with a dismal 0.49 rating to his name, but the Latvian showed his true colors on his team's pick. He ended proceedings at the very top of his side's charts, adding 29 kills to his tally.

We now move to Anubis to settle things. Liquid have only played the map once in the past three months, a 5-16 defeat to ENCE at Gamers8, so Virtus.pro should be the favorites on paper.

G2 19-16 Lynn Vision

G2 struck first in their opening series versus Lynn Vision, requiring overtime to close things out on Anubis despite initially leading 10-1 on the T side.

The European combine had Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage to thank for such a strong start, but couldn't convert upon their lead as Dongkai "⁠Jee⁠" Ji came alive on the AWP to keep his team in the running. The Chinese team recovered from that monumental deficit as well as when facing four map points, forcing overtime, but couldn't overcome a late power-up from Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov as G2 edged out victory.

G2 now look to close in two as we head to Inferno.

Liquid 11-16 Virtus.pro

A rip-roaring 12-round CT half was enough to ensure Virtus.pro walk away with the victory on Inferno. Spectacular work from Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev in particular ensured their defense was dominant.

Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm woke up in the second half to give Liquid at least a look in, but poor performances across the whole map from Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic and Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis meant Liquid were fighting an unwinnable battle.

That was Virtus.pro’s pick, so at least Liquid have their own map choice of Mirage coming up.

Want to get yourself hyped up for Lynn Vision's bout with G2? It seems like a one-sided matchup on paper, who could get hyped up about that?

You might be forgetting that in 2021, at the online BLAST Fall Showdown, Lynn Vision took a map off then-World No. 5 G2 in spectacular fashion. Lizhi "⁠Starry⁠" Ye pulled off one of the plays of the year in that game, as seen below.

Liquid fans rejoice, for Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov has made it to the venue and is set to play against Virtus.pro.

Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele confirmed the news in a reply to a tweet about the situation, saying Patsi is "setting up already."

Another update to the 'will he, won't he?' Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov saga.

The rifler has landed in Malta, something Dust2.us confirmed, and a tweet from Liquid's manager Steve "⁠jokasteve⁠" Perino suggests the team are hopeful Patsi will be able to play.

Timings will still likely be tight, so there is no guarantee just yet.

Liquid are faced with a tough opener at ESL Pro League against Virtus.pro, made even tougher by the fact Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov is due to miss the match.

However, the following exchange between Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill and Patsi on Twitter suggests there might be hope the Russian could play some part in Liquid's fixture.

Patsi stated he expects to land two hours ahead of the start of the game.

The final group of ESL Pro League is upon us, with eight more teams set to battle it out for their place in the playoffs. Four games will kick off play today.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
20/09/2023	Liquid 16:00 Virtus.pro	Match
20/09/2023	G2 16:00 Lynn Vision	Match
20/09/2023	Cloud9 19:30 Eternal Fire	Match
20/09/2023	Complexity 21:00 9INE	Match

Before the games get underway, why not check out HLTV's bullet point preview of the group, the quickfire way to get up to date with how each team are shaping up.

Read more

ESL Pro League Group D in bullet points

HLTV also conducted more in-depth interviews with some of the teams. If you want to know how Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince feels about Complexity's current level, or how Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker feels about his return to LAN, check out the pieces below.

Read more

Grim: "We've been playing our best CS since we made the team"

Read more

woxic: "I need to have freedom and make the game-changing calls"

If hearing about David "⁠n0rb3r7⁠" Danielyan's recent topsy-turvy time in Virtus.pro, or Konstantin "⁠groove⁠" Pikiner's thoughts on the new Cloud9 superteam, tickles your fancy, look no further.

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groove: "We have some problems because we have a lot of stars and a lot of voices"

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n0rb3r7: "We prepared the same as for Rio, maybe 140 hours in the last two weeks"